China “has launched the search and rescue operation on the territory of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] within the northern air corridor”

BEIJING, March 18. /ITAR-TASS/. China “has launched the search and rescue operation on the territory of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] within the northern air corridor”, through which the missing Malaysian Airlines’ Boeing 777-200 could have been flying, Xinhua news agency reports citing Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang.

The ambassador noted that background check on all Chinese passengers of the missing Boeing had not provided any evidence of their possible involvement in hijacking the plane or conducting a terrorist attack.

Possible hijacking

Malaysian police is investigating the possible complicity of aircraft engineer to the disappearance of Boeing 777-200. The engineer was onboard as a passenger. Malaysian law enforcement officers reported this March 17.

According to reports, the investigation is currently collecting data on the airliner’s passengers who could have skills in aircraft control. A 29-year-old Malaysian citizen is among the suspects. He worked as an aircraft engineer for a local air carrier.

On Sunday, searches were conducted in the houses of two pilots of the Malaysian Airlines’ missing Boeing. Earlier, investigators came to a conclusion that the missing plane was hijacked by one of the pilot or by someone of the passengers who had skills in aircraft operation. At present, the main version of the incident is hijacking.

Communication with Malaysian Airlines’ plane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers onboard was lost two hours after its departure from Malaysian capital March 7. The search operation continues.